UCLA women's basketball going in a new direction

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero wasn't kidding when he made his last two coaching hires and announced that he wanted to take the stagnating football and women's basketball programs in new directions.

We've had eight games to watch how the personable Rick Neuheisel has infused energy and emotion but not yet winning into Bruin football.

At Bruin women's basketball media day on Wednesday, first-year coach Nikki Caldwell made it clear that she's installing a new coaching style - one more like that of her demanding, hard-driving, often-intimidating former boss, Tennessee Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt, and one less like that of her kinder, gentler, more maternal predecessor, Kathy Olivier, who had been at the helm for the past 15 seasons.

"I don't quite have Pat's stare down yet … but I've learned a lot from her," said Caldwell, who arrives in Westwood from Tennessee, where she had been an assistant under Summitt from 2003 to 2008 and helped the Lady Vols to a 195-24 record, five Final Fours and NCAA championships in 2007 and 2008. She also won a 1991 title as a Lady Vols player.

That's a lot of success that UCLA women's basketball has never seen - and probably won't see for a while.

The Bruins return three starters but lost their best player, All-Pac-10 forward Lindsey Pluimer (San Clemente High).

Still, Caldwell, a rookie head coach dreaming big, said she wants to bring the Bruins to national prominence. (Good luck with landing Tennessee-caliber talent given UCLA's academic admission standards and heavy Pac-10 recruiting competition from USC and Stanford.)

Players say that demands performance by constantly reminding them of their goals, which, lately and daily, have been about making a run in the Pac-10 Tournament, which will be held this season at USC's Galen Center.

"It's all about winning and she reeks of excellence," said junior center Monique Alexander, the tallest player returning from last season's 16-15 squad. "She's tough, and basically said to us, 'I'm taking this program to national prominence and if you can't get with it, you can go somewhere else.'"

Olivier was more concerned about her players' having a rewarding college experience, which included basketball. Caldwell is exclusively focused on winning basketball, and there is no negotiating with her.

She put the fear into her new players when she stated "our motto this year and from here on out: earned, never given."

She assembled a staff around her, demanding loyalty first and foremost from Stacie Terry, former Lady Vols and WNBA player Tasha Butts and former Lady Vols men's practice squad player and Northern Arizona coach Tony Perotti.

She divided the team up, assigning each player to a coach who would monitor the athlete personally, academically and athletically. She started regular team meetings to encourage bonding, open communication and bonding.

She restructured practices, devoting a third of each session to individual skill work and the rest to 5-on-5 play.

It's still too early to see whether she has what she hopes will be "a family." By the looks of practice Wednesday, she may have a family but one that is afraid of getting on their parent's bad side.

"There was discipline before under Kathy but this is different, ," said senior guard Tierra Henderson, who tried to avoid saying what was obvious to any outsider during practice.

Caldwell shouts, like Olivier did. Caldwell makes the team run when there are mistakes, like Olivier did.

But Caldwell, seeing errors, calls the team together, then singles a player out and blasts her for "hurting the rest of the team." Olivier was too sensitive to intimidate and shame a player.

Caldwell also makes the sport a war. She asked the players, "Who would you take into battle?" and went around the room listening to their answers. "Soon, I want you all to be saying that you all would be willing to take the whole team into battle," Caldwell said.

The tough-love approach, players say, is working. "It's making us tough too," said Henderson.

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